Spider Lilies (2007) | 刺青 (Ci Qing)

SYNOPSIS: Behind Every Tattoo, There's A Secret. Two young women reawaken a dormant love for each other in "Spider Lilies," a relative leap into the big-time for Taiwanese director and lesbian filmer Zero Chou, here using two name leads for the first time. It portrays the love of and between two lesbians, evoking the hopes and hurts of everyone. .

MOVIE TIDBITS: Striking, Macau-born Isabella Leong ("Isabella," "Diary") plays half-Japanese Takeko, aka Bamboo, owner of a Taipei tattoo parlor that's visited by cutesy teenager Jade (Taiwanese singer-TV star Rainie Yang). Jade wants a spider-lily tattoo like one on Takeko's wall (and arm) but latter is mysteriously reticent. Visiting Jade's Web site, Takeko finds she's actually a cybersex webcam girl; what she doesn't realize initially is they knew each other 10 years ago, when Jade, then 9 years old, had a crush on her. Mixing innocence and sexuality, countryside flashbacks are pic's best parts; rest is largely Jade teasing her webcam, Takeko struggling with sundry guilt, and an amateurish subplot about a shy Internet cop (Kris Shie). Original title means "Tattoo."

Cast List

Rainie Yang

Isabella Leong

'Exotic Beauty' at Germany Bodypainting Festival

The fourth German Bodypainting Festival was held Saturday and Sunday in Ingelheim am Rhein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Organizers Peter and Jörg Tronser claim that Ingelheim is the "German capital of bodypainting."

Model was given an extra pair of eyes to complete the alien look.

... while Steffi was painted to look like a "Bavarian extraterrestrial," apparently.


Model Nadine appeared as a futuristic android ...

Most of the models were female, although one man also offered up his body as a canvas.


The weather over the weekend was cold, and models were reported to have goose bumps.

The motto of this year's festival was "Exotic Beauty."

The artists used theatrical make-up which is resistant to sweat but comes off easily in the shower.


The models had to stand completely still for hours as fantastic creations were painted onto their bodies.


Fifty-five body artists from the whole of Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland took part in the event.

Orangutan Art

Buschi, an orangutan who lives in Osnabrück Zoo in Germany, took up painting when his partner Suma died around a year ago. He was encouraged to do so by staff who wanted to keep him busy so he wouldn't feel so lonely.

Now Buschi is holding his first exhibition of his artworks. His paintings are being shown in the ape house of Osnabrück Zoo and can be bought by visitors -- proceeds go to the charity Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.



Buschi's chosen medium is fingerpaints on paper.

Orangutans, whose name means "people of the forest" in Malay, are considered to be extremely intelligent. Here zookeeper Nina Gangei serves as Buschi's muse.

The exhibition can be seen in Osnabrück Zoo until the end of September.